


21 And A Half Hours

by dontrollthedice



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, subathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 09:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27349156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontrollthedice/pseuds/dontrollthedice
Summary: Spifey takes on the job of making sure his boyfriend doesn't die on his first subathon.Things don't go quite as planned.
Relationships: George | Spifey/Harvey | TapL
Comments: 31
Kudos: 155





	21 And A Half Hours

**Spifeyy [18:08]** harvey youre doing a subathon??  
**Spifeyy [18:08]** ???? hello???  
**Spifeyy [18:08]** harvey i know ur reading these  
**TapLHarV [18:08]** shhh

Spifey rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone, knocking on the door to Tapl's office.

A subathon this late in the evening? God knew subathons never ended. There was always either that one person in the audience waiting to donate at the last minute or one of their many mischievous friends (how did they end up being friends with so many pranksters?) looking to inflict a bit of pain. Was this a spur of the moment thing?

"Come in," Tapl called, his voice muffled from behind the door.

Spifey opened the door, only to see Tapl sitting back in his seat with his phone in his hands. OBS was opened on his computer along with a couple tabs on Google Chrome. Was that a pack of water bottles ripped open beside his feet on the floor? Good, so his tweet hadn’t been impulsive after all. He must've been prepared before he sent out his status tweet. But that didn’t mean Spifey wasn’t a little bit concerned.

Tapl set his phone on the desk in front of him and swiveled in his chair to face Spifey with a smile too adorable for his own good. "What's up, Geo?"

"Harvey."

Giggles bubbled out of Tapl's mouth.

 _"Harvey._ "

"In my defense," Tapl said, "I don't think it's gonna go on for too long. Michael said his subathon went on for fifteen hours, but he was playing in MCC during that. Mine won't be as long."

Spifey laughed at that, memories of witnessing his friends' other subathons popping into his head one after the other. Subathons always went long. But he’d let Tapl learn that lesson for himself. "You do know your fans love to see you suffer, right?"

"I'm aware."

"And you do know there's a good chance of you going past the ten hour mark, right?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that." Tapl rolled his eyes when Spifey gave him a teasing grin. "Fine, I know there's a good chance I'll go over the ten hour mark. Whatever."

Spifey's grin warmed to a smile. "As long as you know. I just wish you would've told me beforehand so we could prepare for it better."

"You're acting like I'll be dead by the end of this."

"Who knows?"

"I know."

"Well, I’d wager otherwise. But text me if you need me during the stream, okay?"

Before Spifey could turn to leave, Tapl stood up from his chair and tugged on the sleeve of Spifey's shirt, gazing up at him expectantly.

Heh. What an idiot.

"Yes?" Spifey said, tilting his head as if he didn't know exactly what he was asking for.

Tapl tugged again with a pout on his lips this time. They both knew what he was doing.

"What do you need, Harv?"

"You're so smug, you know that? I actually hate you. This is literally the most un-Chad thing you could do to…" He trailed off when Spifey lifted his hand to cup Tapl's face. The pout faded into a nervous smile, and the tips of his ears took on a shade of red.

Spifey chuckled, but it wasn't as if he was in a place to hold it over him. He could feel his own face heating up the longer he gazed into the glittering eyes of the man he loved more than anything, his heart racing and racing and racing. He leaned closer until their lips were just a couple inches away, then offered him a warm smile. God, he felt like he was melting. "You're cute, you know that?"

Tapl chuckled at that. "Me? I'm the cute one?"

"Yeah. Look, you're turning me into a simp."

"Weren't you already one for e-girl Finn?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Make me."

Well, Spifey was happy to do that. He gave Tapl one last warm smile before pressing their lips together.

* * *

It was only an hour into Tapl's subathon, and Spifey was already nervous.

He zeroed in on the timeline of his editing software. It was just a night with him, a glass of water, and Sony Vegas Pro. Yeah. Except staring at his own face for this long was starting to piss him off, and the urge to close out of the program entirely and open Twitch was starting to get the better of him.

No. He shouldn't. He had work to do.

… He missed him, though.

Spifey shook his head and leaned forward.

No, he had to be patient. The stream would be over soon.

* * *

The stream was not over soon.

Nine hours. When the hell had the timer reached over nine hours? Who had donated that much?

Despite that, Tapl seemed to be doing well. His energy four hours into the stream was incredible: he was yelling, he was moving, and his movement in-game was just as incredible as ever. It was like he wasn’t facing existential dread at needing to stream for another nine hours minimum.

But it was ten in the evening now, a good amount of time after their usual dinner time. Was Tapl hungry?

Safer to ask.

 **Me [10:22]** about to order food, do u want anything?

A couple minutes passed before Tapl finished the Skywars game he was in. After that, his Minecraft avatar stood still for just a moment before he entered another game.

 **Tadpole [10:25]** surprise me

Oh. What a dangerous thing to say to Spifey.

There were quite a few abominations Spifey could come up with just off the top of his head. With delivery, making ridiculous food items just became that much easier.

… No, he wouldn’t do that, even if it would technically surprise Tapl. Not during a stream this long.

Spifey ordered their usuals before setting his phone down and tuning back into the stream, pride swelling in his chest as Tapl knocked another player into the void.

* * *

**Me [11:01]** foods here, lmk when i can come in

Almost as soon as Spifey sent that text, Tapl said, “Okay, stream, I’m gonna get food, so here’s a clip from Daily Dose. Be right back.”

Footsteps approached the door before the door swung open.

And there was his boyfriend, gazing up at him with the brightest eyes and prettiest smile.

“Hi,” Tapl laughed. He pointed at the bag of food in Spifey’s hands. “You didn’t do anything cursed to that, did you?”

Spifey opened his mouth to answer, but his gaze fell on the computer open to OBS. Could the stream hear them? Not even their friends knew they were dating, much less living together. 

“I muted, don’t worry. Why would I talk to you if I didn’t mute?” He took the bag of food, glanced inside, then let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, good, I was kind of scared you’d do something cursed after I told you to surprise me. I only realized who I was talking to after I already texted you, but by then, I was in another game, and all throughout that game, I was like, _‘Holy crust, George better not do anything to my food.’”_

Spifey laughed at that. “What, you think I’m mean enough to mess with your food like that?”

“You’ve done it before, you’ll do it again.”

“Rude. I’m never being nice to you again.”

"Yeah, let's see how long that lasts, you simp." Tapl grinned up at him before standing on the tips of his toes to plant a kiss on Spifey's cheek. "I have to go back to my stream now. Thank you for the food!"

Spifey blinked, raising a hand to where Tapl had kissed him and becoming acutely aware of the heat rising to his face. "Y-Yeah, no problem."

Tapl shut the door, and Spifey was left with his heart pounding in his chest, wondering if he really was a simp after all.

* * *

Bedwars with Skeppy! That was fun, exciting, a great chance to hang out with one of his best friends.

Bedwars with Skeppy late at night in Skeppy’s timezone? Less so.

“Spifeyyy,” Skeppy whined, almost certainly having been knocked off by a fireball while he was bridging to another team. His suspicions were confirmed upon seeing Skeppy’s name pop up in chat as a death.

“Yeah?” Spifey said.

“I don’t wanna do this anymoreee.”

“You wanna finish this game and stop then?”

“... Um, I don’t think—”

Okay, yup, there went their bed. And there went both Spifey and Skeppy, knocked off the edge by another team. They shared a moment of silence as they processed what the fuck had just happened.

Then they burst out laughing.

"That game was the most scuffed thing I've ever played,” Skeppy said once his laughter died down. “Thanks for playing with me.”

Spifey hummed in acknowledgement, closing out of Minecraft to log onto Twitter.

Moments of silence in their calls, as loud as both of them were as people, were nothing unusual. Spifey was thankful for that aspect of their friendship; both of them were people who knew when to speak and when to shut up. 

That being said, something heavy slammed against a desk on Skeppy’s end. That was never good.

“Wait,” Skeppy said, “it’s literally five in the morning for you. What’re you doing still up this late?”

Spifey’s eyes flitted to the bottom right of his screen. It read nine o’clock. “Um, no? It’s nine in the evening. That’s, like, eleven where you are, right?”

Silence.

Wait a second. He was an idiot.

“You’re not in London right now, are you?” Skeppy asked quietly.

Dread knotted in Spifey’s gut.

Oh, fuck. Neither him nor Tapl had agreed they were ready to reveal this relationship yet, even to someone as close and non-judgemental as Skeppy. Asking Tapl was out of the question, too; he needed to focus on the stream without the added stress of this situation. Skeppy was smarter than he let on. Spifey had to throw him off the trail somehow.

“Yeah, I’m not,” Spifey admitted with a laugh. “I’m, uh, I’m in LA right now, actually. There’s some work stuff I have to do here.”

Skeppy gasped at that. “Ooh, business trip?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“You should meet up with Harvey while you’re there. You know he’s doing a subathon right now?”

The knot of dread slowly unraveled, and Spifey found himself smiling despite the guilt of lying eating away at his skin. Skeppy would understand, right?

“Yeah, I saw on Twitter,” Spifey said. “Poor guy doesn’t know what he got himself into, huh?”

“Yeah. I would donate if he didn’t have twelve hours on the timer right now.”

“Really? Twelve hours?”

“Yup.” Then Skeppy giggled that strange giggle he laughed when he was feeling particularly mischievous. Spifey didn’t trust that. “You know, I know I mentioned this, but you should meet up with Harvey after he gets some rest from this subathon. He’d be really happy to see you. Like, _really_ happy.”

Spifey bit back a smile.

Now that he and Tapl were dating, the hints were a little easier to spot. And this was a hint Skeppy was practically throwing straight into his face. Had he really missed hints like these before they started dating like Tapl had claimed? He hadn’t been that oblivious, right?

“I’d be happy to see him, too,” Spifey said, closing his sentence with a laugh. “I’ve gotta get going now, though. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright. See you, man.”

With that, both of them left the TeamSpeak channel, and Spifey was left wondering if he made the right choice.

No, he definitely made the right choice. Even though Skeppy was somebody he and Tapl both trusted with their lives, there was something… too hasty about revealing their relationship just yet without asking Tapl first. After all, wasn’t it still too early to tell if they would last? It hadn’t even been a year yet.

Spifey’s heart dropped. He certainly hoped they lasted.

Tapl. He was still streaming.

Spifey picked up his phone and typed.

 **Me [21:11]** need more water?  
**Tadpole [21:12]** more coffee please?  
**Me [21:12]** of course  
**Tadpole [21:12]** thank you  
**Me [21:12]** <3

* * *

No, he did not miss his stupid boyfriend right now. He absolutely didn't feel impossibly small on his bed and definitely didn’t want Tapl by his side as he usually was. Not at all.

Spifey frowned when he turned to the other side of the bed, only to find it empty.

Okay, maybe he missed him a little.

It was two in the morning now. On a normal night, he would have already been fast asleep with Tapl cradled in his arms. Sometimes when neither of them could sleep, they’d sit there for hours, softly laughing at memes together on Tapl’s phone. They had just done that yesterday. 

Ugh, his heart hurt. Did he miss him this much already? How ridiculous.

Spifey picked his phone up from the nightstand and opened Twitch. He tapped on Tapl’s channel, smiling upon hearing his voice.

He missed him so much. Did Tapl miss him, too?

Spifey followed along with the movements on screen during the Skywars game, slowly falling asleep to the sound of his favorite voice.

* * *

The first thing Spifey did when he awoke was open his phone, panic at the battery percentage remaining, then laugh when he found Tapl still live.

So his viewers had kept him for the entire night, huh? Morning had felt cold without Tapl by his side, poking him awake and giving him a sleepy kiss on the cheek. But hearing him coo at a dog video pulled up on his stream warmed Spifey up just a bit.

Spifey yawned as he switched apps and typed away at the screen.

 **Me [10:22]** good morning tadpole :) do u want anything to eat or drink?  
**Tadpole [10:23]** OIEJKGLJKL  
**Me [10:23]** felt that  
**Tadpole [10:23]** GOOD MORNING  
**Tadpole [10:23]** I REQUIRE NOTHING  
**Me [10:24]** HARVEY YOUR CAPS LOCK MIGHT BE ON  
**Tadpole [10:24]** HEY SPIFEY  
**Me [10:24]** ILY TADPOLE  
**Tadpole [10:24]** I LOVE YOU TOO GEO!

Spifey laughed and set his phone aside to stretch.

Time for another day.

* * *

Staying in bed for three hours was a bit of a loss, but that didn’t matter right now. Only a couple seconds remained on the subathon. Tapl’s stream was muted while Spifey talked in a Discord call with Skeppy, but he could almost feel Tapl’s anticipation from here.

“You know Harvey’s subathon went on for twenty one and a half hours?” Spifey said. “If he could do it, we could probably do a stream like that next time we meet up.”

Skeppy laughed at that. “Nah, dude, you remember the sleep stream. That was hell.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s not smart.”

“We’re not smart.”

“That’s true.”

They fell silent as Skeppy typed away at his keyboard. Spifey should probably work soon, too. Three hours gone to lazing around was three hours too many. Hadn’t Skeppy wanted him to be in a video with Zelk and Mega?

“You want me to get out of bed and be productive now?” Spifey said with a yawn.

Skeppy hummed. “Yeah, Mega just got online, and I think Zelk’s waiting in the TeamSpeak channel.”

Spifey smiled when Tapl’s stream went offline and closed out of Twitch. Finally, he could catch a break. “Do I have to?”

“You agreed to this, didn’t you?”

“Sadly.”

“Get up, lazy ass.”

Spifey laughed, but just as he moved to sit up, the door to the bedroom slammed open.

Tapl stood in the doorway with bleary eyes.

Oh, god. Tired Tapl wasn’t capable of rational thought.

“I’m done!” Tapl murmured as he collapsed into bed, throwing his arms around Spifey’s waist and burrowing his head into his chest. “I’m done, I’m done, I’m done. Done. Done! I wanna sleep now!”

Spifey opened his mouth to respond, but his eyes drifted back to his phone. 

Fuck. Skeppy was still on the call.

“Is… Is that Harvey?” Skeppy asked.

But that was second in importance.

“Harvey, I’m on the phone with Zak right now,” Spifey said, moving his hand to ruffle Tapl’s hair. “I promised I would help him with a video.”

Tapl’s hand shot out to snatch Spifey’s phone away from him. He held the phone up to his ear, but even with the distance he could hear Skeppy’s hysterical laughter. “Hi, Zak! I just finished my subathon. I’m gonna cuddle the hell out of Geo for, like, fifteen hours now. That good? ‘Kay, thanks. Love you, bye.”

With that, he ended the call, and Spifey couldn’t help but laugh.

“Harvey!” Spifey called through his laughter. “Zak doesn’t know we’re dating!”

Tapl nodded matter-of-factly, his eyes glazed over from sleep deprivation. “Well, he does now.”

God. This man. This stupid, impulsive, adorable man.

Spifey sighed and set his phone on the nightstand. When he turned back, Tapl was already fast asleep.

This quickly? Spifey supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised; Tapl had stayed up for longer than twenty-four hours at that point, something he hadn’t done since high school.

Spifey’s gaze rested on Tapl, and his heart swelled.

Tapl’s eyes were fluttered shut and mouth just slightly ajar. He had half-heartedly pulled the blankets up but only made it to his knees before he seemed to have given up. He was a heavy sleeper, too; it would’ve been easy to tuck Tapl into bed and leave to work.

But even if Spifey would inevitably feel like a dick for bailing on the video and he’d immediately be called a simp by Skeppy at the next given opportunity (and Skeppy probably knew to keep that a secret, right?), Tapl was his first priority. He could worry about everything else later. They could talk about everything else later.

So Spifey set his glasses down, pulled the covers over both of them, and wrapped his arms around Tapl’s waist. He smiled when Tapl leaned in closer to him.

“Goodnight, Tadpole,” Spifey whispered.

Tapl murmured something resembling a goodnight back to him.

They drifted to sleep, warm and loved.

**Author's Note:**

> in case youre wondering where the tadpole nickname came from: https://twitter.com/Spifeyy/status/1322983223249506307?s=20


End file.
